Floods could get worse

The situation in southern Angola, where flooding caused by heavy rain has displaced at least 22,000 people, could get worse, the Angolan Red Cross has warned.



Karen Hvid, the Angolan representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said between 150,000 and 160,000 people had been affected in an area still recovering from floods in 2008. "Many of them had lost their crops last year have been affected again this year, raising concerns about food security."



Hvid, who sourced the situation information from the Angolan Red Cross secretary-general Walter Quifica, said thousands had been displaced in the Cuvelai River delta in Cunene Province.



"In the first three months of this year [2009], the southern provinces of Cunene and Huila received more rainfall than in the whole of last year [2008], and the rainy season will continue through April."



She said more rain was forecast for the central highlands, leading to a higher volume of water draining into the Cuvelai and Cunene rivers flowing through southern Angola.



Eugenio Laborinho, executive coordinator of the national commission for civil protection, said heavy rains were continuing in at least three districts of Cunene Province - Cuvelai, Kwanhama and Namacunde - and that the rains this year were heavier than in 2008, when 56,000 people were displaced in Cunene and neighbouring Huila.



The displaced people have been relocated to safe areas, with most of them housed in a camp in Ondjiva, the provincial capital of Cunene. Water purification tablets and mosquito nets are being distributed to prevent outbreaks of cholera and malaria. "We have taken all precautions," said Laborinho.



Adam Berthoud, the Regional Rights in Crisis coordinator for the UK-based development agency, Oxfam, said accessing the flood-affected remote rural areas was a major problem as roads had been cut off. "The rural areas are very extensively flooded," he commented.



The southern provinces are affected by floods every year, but agencies said the floods this year were worse than last year. Hvid said assessments were being conducted in the neighbouring Cuando Cubango Province, east of Cunene, and the number of affected people could rise.



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